Junior doctors in England will hold two more strikes in December and January. This comes after they rejected a new pay proposal put forward in discussions with the government. The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that the offer would deliver an additional 3% increase on average, which is on top of the 8.8% rise that has already been given. The strikes will last for three days from 07:00 on 20 December and for six days from 07:00 on 3 January. This new year walkout will be the longest one yet after suspension of industrial action for five weeks of discussions.
The BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, made a statement saying, “We have been clear from the outset of these talks that we needed to move at pace and if we did not have a credible offer, we would be forced to call strikes. After five weeks of intense talks, the government was unable to present a credible offer on pay by the deadline. Instead, we were offered an additional 3%, unevenly spread across doctors’ grades, which would still amount to pay cuts for many doctors this year.”
Junior doctors are asking for a 35% pay increase to compensate for what they say are below-inflation wage increases since 2008. Since industrial action began within the NHS, more than one million appointments and treatments have had to be cancelled. There have been walkouts by other professionals such as nurses, ambulance workers, and physios, but the strikes organised by junior doctors have caused the most disruption.
The pay rise given to junior doctors in April was weighted so that those with less experience, who earn the least, received the largest bumps in pay. The BMA’s announcement comes after the union reached a pay agreement last week with the government on consultants, who have also been taking strike action. Meanwhile, other healthcare staff accepted a pay offer of an additional 5% and a one-off payment of at least £1,655 in May
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